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  • Essay / Illusory Appearances in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

    There is truth in Duncan's phrase "There is no art to find the construct of the mind in the face", because throughout the play from Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are not what they most often appear to be. Even Macbeth does not know how gravely burdened Lady Macbeth’s “heart is” (p. 163). To the other characters in the play, Lady Macbeth is just a “woman” – a person who faints at the word “murder” and cannot resist the pressures that a “man” can exert. Macbeth is seen as a butcher, although in reality he is “a coward in [his] own esteem” (p. 41). Macbeth is a man and Lady Macbeth a woman, but we see that, just as "what is right is wrong and what is unjust" (p. 7), Macbeth plays the role of a "woman", while Lady Macbeth acts like a “man”. .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay. Lady Macbeth wants to replace every ounce of compassion and kindness with the "greatest cruelty", hoping that everyone will be rejected. its gentle virtues “will stop [the] passage to remorse” (p.33). She calls on evil spirits to “de-sex” her so that she can get rid of all signs of femininity (p.33). the "ministers of murder" to "thicken [her] blood", hoping that she will be strong enough to show no regret for the murders yet to be committed (p. 33). She banishes his effeminate qualities - examples of such murders. Character “flaws” being any mark of weakness, kindness or tenderness. She then demands that they be replaced by “gall”, hatred and cruelty (p. 33). There are discrepancies between what we first hear about Macbeth and what we hear. observe it first. Previously, while fighting valiantly in the battles for Scotland, Macbeth was seen as a powerful, chivalrous, bold, and authoritative “man.” We imagine a “brave Macbeth (well, he deserves that name)” courageously and skillfully fighting “unsnapping” the enemy “from [his] ship to [his] chops” (p. 9). But our perception of Macbeth, a man for whom “everything is too weak” (p.9), quickly falters when we see his reaction to the Weird sisters. Macbeth is not as strong as one might expect, and even Banquo asks Macbeth "why [he] begins and seems to be afraid" of the witches and their predictions (p. 17). Macbeth, like a child, simply stands idly by, as he later admits in a letter to his wife: “[He] remained fascinated with wonder” (p. 31). Lady Macbeth recognizes her husband's faults. Macbeth is “not without ambition,” but he lacks the malice necessary to achieve his immediate goal (p. 31). He “is too full of the milk of human kindness” (p. 31) while Lady Macbeth, almost immediately after saying this, calls on the agents of evil to “take [his] milk for gall.” (p.33) The first contrast clearly identifies Macbeth's weaker, kinder nature and his wife's predominantly dominant ways. Lady Macduff criticizes her husband's action of fleeing, "[leaving] his wife, [leaving] his babies, his manor and his [unprotected] titles" (p. 133). One who does this has “little wisdom,” she says, reinforcing the importance of a man protecting his property (p. 133). Yet, in more than one situation, it is Lady Macbeth who saves Macbeth. When Duncan's murdered body is found, Macbeth, in his nervousness, "[kills] [the guards of Duncan's chamber]", then both apologetically and in feeble efforts to justify this action, rambles on about absurd way "Repent me of my fury... Who can be wise". , »,. 171)